The present invention broadly relates to a new and improved cover arrangement for covering the balustrade socket or bed also referred to as a sill or base of a transport or transportation apparatus, such as an escalator or moving walk or walkway.
Generally speaking, the cover arrangement of the balustrade sill or base of the transportation apparatus, such as an escalator or a moving walkway, as contemplated by the present invention, comprise two mutually independent covers or panels, one of which constitutes a sill cover or panel--the so-called inner cover or panel--and the other of which constitutes the outer lining-side or cladding cover or panel--the so-called outer cover or panel. Each of these covers or panels are arranged on one or the other respective side of a substantially vertically standing or disposed or upright balustrade carrier or support and are manufactured from brake-formed or bent-over sheet metal and/or drawn profiles or structural elements.
In escalators and moving walkways in common use today and equipped with self-supporting balustrades, preferably formed of hardened glass, there are required covers or cover arrangements for the balustrade sill or base both on the side of such sill or base and on the outer side facing the escalator or moving walkway. During the course of performing maintenance work, occasional access to the inside of the balustrade base is required, for which purpose portions or sections of the cover arrangement must be removed. Consequently, it is important to pay special attention to the fixing or attachment of the components or parts of the cover arrangements.
For the covering of balustrade sill or base constructions, there have already been proposed the use of drawn profiles with spring-catch or snap arrangements which possess no visible screws or bolts and which can be removed and replaced without the need to use special tools and without much expenditure in work. The installations for the mounting of these profiles are, however, very complicated and the profiles were not capable of providing any satisfactory results because of their internal or inherent stresses produced by virtue of the prior deformation or shaping work undertaken at such profiles. The same unsatisfactory results existed in the case of screwed or bolted covering profiles in which the visible screw or bolt heads were covered by additional clamping profiles. From U.S. Pat. No. 3,991,877, granted Nov. 16, 1976, an escalator has become known in the art, in which, among other things, there is also disclosed a cover arrangement for the balustrade sill or base. A glass balustrade is held in a longitudinal slot of a clamping support or holder embracing the lower balustrade end. The clamping support or holder is clamped together with the base of the balustrade in a number of screw clamps which are fixed to the frame construction of the escalator or moving stairway. At the top, free end of the clamping support or holder there are provided on both sides, towards the sill or base and towards the outer side, horizontally arranged, longitudinal slots for the reception of the cover arrangement of the balustrade sill. On the side of the outer cover or panel, a tongue or flap of a drawn profile rests in a longitudinal slot which, at the same time, engages the top edges of the outer lining or paneling plates. This covering profile is clamped to the frame construction of the escalator by means of a dovetail-type fastening arrangement which is only accessible from the inside. On the other or sill side, the one longitudinal edge of an inserted brake-formed or bent-over metal cover or panel sheet rests in the other longitudinal slot. This cover or panel sheet, on the other longitudinal edge thereof, is bolted to the sill or base which is fixed to the frame construction, by means of a number of screws or bolts arranged to be recessed or sunk into a longitudinal groove provided with a bent edge.
A disadvantage of this balustrade covering or cover arrangement resides in the fact that the outer cover or panel cannot be removed by itself, but only in conjunction with the sill cover or panel, and that the sill cover or panel, despite the provision of the longitudinal groove containing the bent edge, displays visible screw or bolt heads. Additionally, the screws or bolts arranged in the region of the belt or band carrying the steps of the transportation apparatus, notwithstanding the fact that the screw or bolt heads are sunk into the longitudinal groove, present a certain safety hazard.